Letter from the Indies- Farewell to the British Virgins

by Andrea and Ian Treleaven on 10 Feb 2009 Andrea and Ian Treleaven continue their tales of sailing in the West Indies. This week it is farewell to the British Virgin Islands:

Regrettably we leave the BVI’s after another week cruising in her waters. I wrote in an earlier letter, on our arrival, that the BVI’s are the most asked about cruising ground in the world and now in our opinion, we would have to agree.

Road Harbour the main port on the main island of Tortola in the BVI’s has three cruise ships arriving every day but for us the only reason to visit is for provisioning. Leaving Road Harbour under sail Ian sights a floating fender and throws my way a ‘man over board’ drill; I have to pick it up or at least come near it. In my mind I constantly go through the motions, in case such an incident should happen. I steer the yacht into the wind, roll up the headsail and let the main flap. The fender is now in front of me, motor on; I am able to steer to it. Ian now has, courtesy of a charter company, a big fender that will come in handy when we pass through the Panama Canal. I will get my reward 'later'!

Soper’s Hole, a very deep sheltered bay on the west end of

Tortola, is our anchorage for a night. The marina village ashore is Creole style and is the home of ‘Voyage Charters’ with a fleet of large wonderful catamarans.

Cane Garden Bay on the north western side is recognised as the pick of beaches on Tortola. Protected by a dangerous reef it offers excellent shelter off the white sand beach lined with coconut palms and beach bars with a lush mountain behind. Ashore is Quito’s bar where Quito and his live band keep us entertained with reggae till day break.

Sitting at the bar we meet Doug and Linda Jones from the USA who live here for

four months a year. Invited to their beautiful mountain top home the next night, we watch the sun set over Sir Francis Drake Channel and the US Virgin islands and on a clear day they can see Puerto Rico. Ian is sold.

Jost Van Dyke, named after a Dutch pirate, is our last island and I have never taken so many photos. World famous for its beach bars including Foxy’s, One Love and Soggy Dollar, it is one big beach party with great live entertainment. No need to tell you how the ‘soggy dollar’ came about.

Time to cross the border to the USA, it’s only seven miles away and ‘Big Brother’ is waiting for us. Before we left Sydney we obtained a B1/B2

visa, eye photo and were finger printed, because we are entering in on our own vessel and not on anything commercial.

Not many non US cruisers bother to go to the US Virgins due to the restrictions and we are terrified of doing something wrong. Considering all the hassle to obtain the correct visa, we have never been treated so casually on entry. What an anticlimax - our papers are in order, we are stamped in for six months and that was that. Welcome to the USA.

The US Virgins comprise 3 main islands: St Johns which is nearly 60% national park, courtesy of the Rockefeller

family, St Thomas which is the capital and full of resorts, and St Croix 35nms to the south, not on our radar, which is mainly industrial.

Cruz Bay Village is a delight on St John, and has a feeling of peacefulness. Not so during the Danish occupation of the 18th - 19th century when 109 plantations of sugar cane were in operation. Slaves were treated incredibly badly by the Danes for 150 years. The islands were sold to the USA in 1917. A rebellion against the white owners in 1733 lasted six months until crushed with the assistance of the French. It didn’t bring an end to slavery but highlighted the conditions, especially on this island.

Anchored in Leinster Bay we walk to Annaberg Sugar Mill plantation, now open to the public and a reminder of harsh conditions endured by the slaves. Steep hillsides were cleared, terraced and planted with cane in extreme heat. Fires cooked the juice from the crushed cane that became sugar and then after a very long day they tendered to their own gardens so they had something to eat. Life expectancy was only seven years. All this for the production of sugar, molasses and rum, shipped to sweeten the tooth of Europe.

On a lighter note I just read an article about President Richard Nixon coming here for a holiday. You can

imagine the security at the time of the bombing of Cambodia. Some young hippies anchored off his hotel room and hoisted a sail painted in blood red, an anti war slogan. They certainly got media attention but as the security had been here for weeks, Nixon was not amused. I think the same hippies are still here in Coral Bay living on traditional yachts (doesn’t this age us).

‘Inner Vision’ a successful local reggae band is playing ashore. Fantastic -there's so much talent around we are never without live music.
Every bay on St John has moorings which are compulsory to use at USD$15 per night. This is a token

amount which goes to protect and help rejuvenate the sea grass and dead coral.

On to St Thomas and the capital Charlotte Amalie and we find that all is commercially directed to tourism and more cruise ships. One could actually confuse Larry Ellison of Oracle fame's personal 280ft super yacht ‘Rising Sun’ with the cruise ships which take up most of the marina. A big swell is running from the north so to us it’s shelter for a few days. Ashore there is everything from fast fat food restaurants, synthetic cocktails to empty luxury shops. Most places are slow so the recession must be starting to affect all the

islands.

Another precious moment; while we dinghy ashore in the main harbour, we are surprised to see a large stingray fly through the air, show us his white underbelly, hit the surface and repeat four times. No time for photos as we are aghast at the sight and luckily he missed coming aboard.

No need to stay any longer in these islands; we now prepare to move on to the Spanish Virgin Islands only 20nms to the west.

to be continued...